1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an embroidery machine for stitching desired patterns on a fabric and more particularly to an embroidery machine capable of visually showing the resulting stitched patterns beforehand.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various machines have been proposed to enhance the aesthetic value of fabrics by stitching patterns on fabrics. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the construction of a conventional pattern forming machine. In FIG. 1, indicated at A is an input unit through which the operator feeds desired patterns or the like to be formed on a fabric and at C is a control unit which reads a control procedure previously stored in a pattern memory unit D in accordance with the input signal fed thereto from the input unit A and provides control signals in accordance with the control procedure to a stitch forming unit E and to a driving unit F which changes the relative position between the stitch forming unit E and the fabric B. A machine of this kind has a fixed control procedure for each elementary pattern stored in the pattern memory unit D to enable the forming of known aesthetic elementary patterns, such as capital letters and Gothic letters, by the actions of the pattern forming unit E and the driving unit F. The operator is enable to select a desired elementary pattern among those stored elementary patterns and to stitch the selected elementary pattern on a fabric.
However, since the elementary patterns are defined uniquely by the memory unit D, the freedom of creating a pattern through the combination of those elementary patterns is likely to be restricted. Accordingly, conventional pattern forming machines of such a kind were devised to enable the creation of various patterns by making the size of the elementary patterns and the interval between the elementary patterns variable so that various different patterns can be formed.
Nevertheless, such conventional pattern forming machines have the following disadvantages. First, even though a pattern can optionally and freely be created, the created pattern needs to be converted into numerical codes or the like which are necessary for controlling the control unit C as the input unit A of the pattern forming machine comprises a keyboard or the like, notwithstanding the created pattern is a two-dimensional pattern imaged by the operator or drawn on paper. Secondary, the actions of the pattern forming machine responding to the input numerical codes and the resultant patterns forming on the fabric B are known only after the pattern forming machine has completed a series of actions.
Such disadvantages were enhanced in proportion to the expansion of the degree of freedom of pattern creation. Furthermore, the change of a pattern formed once on a fabric was liable to cause damages in the fabric. Accordingly, it has earnestly desired that a machine capable of providing a large degree of freedom for pattern forming and of accurately showing the resultant pattern before the pattern is formed actually on a fabric.